Getting their message out is going to be the main challenge for both candidates, however: The telephone poll also found that 38 percent of likely voters are still undecided, more than the number supporting either candidate.

Fundraising numbers Chiu will file Thursday with the Secretary of State’s office show that, as of Dec. 31, he had raised $450,655 from 841 contributors. The majority of contributions — about two-thirds — are from San Franciscans, and 44 percent of donors gave less than $100. Chiu entered the race in September.

The poll of 506 likely voters was conducted in January and has a plus-or-minus margin of error of 4.4 percent. It found Chiu with support from 37 percent and 25 percent favoring Campos.

And we know how Chiu’s campaign will be attempting to paint him as it introduces him to voters this year: It also asked poll respondents whether they would prefer “an outspoken activist” or a “practical problem solver”– and 72 percent preferred the latter.

UPDATE: We got a call from Campos’ camp, which said the campaign isn’t at all concerned about the fundraising numbers or the poll.

“We kind of expected this to come — David Chiu is the candidate of developers, the Chamber of Commerce and big corporations and his fundraising numbers show that,” said Nate Albee, a Campos consultant. “We have the funds to get our messaging out there, which is important. … We are talking to the people that matter and that’s why we have the sole endorsement of the teachers, the nurses and the hotel workers.”

Albee said another poll commissioned by an unbiased third party recently showed Chiu only four points ahead.